Post navigation

6 Sept 2017 Head Sculpture Hazor Israel and Can I Play With Madness (Iron Maiden and drawing)

Hello to you. It’s 11:51 am on this Wednesday. How are you doing so far as you visit me in this here and now? I have to be honest and say that I have an unsettled feeling in my gut. The simplest way to put it, “things are doing things….” So as is customary these days, I have been trying to listen to music, to exercise, to dance, to pray, to use art as ways to confront the unease inside of me. The collective consciousness of our world is crying out with all of the many voices they have in which to vocalize their anguish and fear right now. Those of us who are more sensitive cannot tune out their cries.

This morning I watched five military jets fly over the house with mixed emotions. The pilots of these planes heeding a call or following orders taking them somewhere. I said a prayer for them. It is my hope they are headed to missions involved with helping Hurricane Harvey survivors and the recovery effort or preemptive measures for Irma in Florida.

The feelings I’m having inside there really isn’t much that can be done to soothe….the “this” does not respond to any tangible, earthly prescription. The only way is through such feelings and emotions is through them with a heart of gratitude. They must be felt and they must be lived. I did get some good news about my Uncle and his heart issues yesterday – he went home in good spirits! That helps!

The two drawings. The chalk drawing is me musing about article I saw today about an unknown Egyptian Pharaoh head:

6 Sept 2017 – my musing about the article I saw today the head found in Hazor Israel

This sculpture of an Egyptian pharaoh was found in the ancient city of Hazor in Israel. It was constructed around 4,300 years ago, at a time when pyramids were being built in Egypt, and was smashed apart when Hazor was destroyed around 3,300 years ago. (Gaby Laron/Hebrew University/Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations in memory of Yigael Yadin)

A sculpture of an unknown Egyptian pharaoh’s head, found at the ancient city of Hazor in Israel, dates back around 4,300 years, to a time when Egyptians were building pyramids. The sculpture was smashed apart around 3,300 years ago, possibly after an Israeli force led by Joshua destroyed the city, researchers have found.

Researchers said the sculpture, excavated and reconstructed in 1995 and discussed in the recently published book “Hazor VII: The 1990-2012 Excavations, the Bronze Age” (Israel Exploration Society, 2017), leaves them with a number of questions: Which pharaoh does it show? Why was it transported to Hazor? And why did it survive for a millennium before being smashed apart when Hazor was destroyed?

“The person depicted wears a short, close-fitting, curled cap wig, topped by a uraeus, the solar cobra that rises above the forehead of [a] pharaoh in ancient Egyptian iconography, thus identifying our character as a king of Egypt beyond any doubt,” wrote Laboury, a senior research associate at the Belgian National Foundation for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS) at the University of Liège, and Connor, a curator at the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy.

“The rendering of these facial features on the piece from Hazor are characteristic of the 5th Dynasty [circa 2465-2323 B.C.], although it does not seem possible to determine with any certainty which king it depicts,” wrote Laboury and Connor, who also noted that the head was once part of a larger statue.

Destroyed city

Hazor was destroyed in the mid-13th century B.C., possibly by an Israeli force led by Joshua. A passage from the Book of Joshua in the Bible claims that Joshua’s force destroyed a large army led by “Jabin,” a king of Hazor. The passage also says that after destroying the army, Joshua sacked Hazor.

“Joshua turned back and captured Hazor and put its king to the sword,” the biblical text from Joshua 11:10-11 reads. “Everyone in it, they put to the sword. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed, and he [Joshua] burned Hazor itself.”

Whether the Israelis were actually the group that destroyed Hazor is a matter of debate among scholars, but research shows that the city was sacked and this sculpture was one of many statues that were smashed. “The cracks indicate that the nose had been broken and the head detached from the rest of the sculpture before being shattered,” wrote Laboury and Connor in their report. “Interestingly, no other part of the statuette to which it had originally belonged was recovered at the site.”

A number of Egyptian statues have also been discovered at Hazor, including one found in 2013that has the paws of a sphinx. “Given Hazor’s location in northern Israel, the number of Egyptian statues and statuary fragments uncovered at the site is surprising,” a team of scholars wrote in another report published in the book. “All statues appear to have been deliberately smashed to pieces.”

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to indicate that in the Hebrew Bible Joshua acts as the leader of the Israeli people, though he is not referred to as a king.

The second pen and ink drawing is exactly what the title says, “Watching Madness.” It feels like all of nature and creation is watching madness play out in all it’s many forms.

6 Sept 2017 Jackie Wygant drawing Watching Madness Alvarado TX

Iron Maiden – Can I Play With Madness (Official Video)

“Can I Play With Madness?”

Can I play with madness? Give me the sense to wonder To wonder if I’m free Give me a sense of wonder To know I can be me Give me the strength to hold my head up Spit back in their face Don’t need no key to unlock this door Gonna break down the walls Break out of this bad place [Chorus] Can I play with madness? The prophet stared at his crystal ball Can I play with madness? There’s no vision there at all Can I play with madness? The prophet looked at me and laughed at me (ha ha) He said: Can I play with madness? He said you’re blind, too blind to see Said you’re too blind to see I screamed aloud to the old man I said don’t lie, don’t say you don’t know I say you’ll pay for this mischief In this world or the next Oh and then he fixed me with a freezing glance And the hell fires raged in his eyes He said you wanna know the truth son? Lord, I’ll tell you the truth Your soul’s gonna burn in a lake of fire [Chorus] Listen to me, said the prophet [Chorus] Can I play with madness?

Meta

The best symbol to identify me is like the tattoo I have of a chameleon. The best way to understand my spirituality is to take in the beauty of any tree. Everything I need to know about birth, life, death and immortality can be summed up in the life of a tree! I am a creator. If I can figure out a way to make something I see with my own hands I do it. I love to do anything creative - wire bending, writing, drawing, singing, crocheting blankets, photography. I am a very spiritual person...not religious. Mother Nature and all of her creation are my church and spending time outside with her is my greatest therapy. Walking, meditating, praying and doing Tai Chi/interpretive dance in nature is how I pray. My life is an expression of life with the God of my understanding. My God is the energy that made all that is and continues to sustain it.
Some of my mottos: Everything I've ever been through whether it be good or bad has been for a reason. It is my responsibility, when given the opportunity, to share my experience, strength and hope with others who are facing what I've been through. I try to Lead by Example! Life for me is not about quantity, it's about quality. Money is only energy....not life. I feel if one person is positively affected by my writing here....my mission has been accomplished....one tells one....and so on. In the beginning and the end of life all that will ever be meaningfully remembered about you is one thing....Love. Loved and Be Loved.